Kolnacki v. State

Decision Date22 March 2007
Docket NumberNo. 22.,22.
PartiesBetty KOLNACKI, Respondent, v. STATE of New York, Appellant. (Claim No. 103121.)
CourtNew York Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
OPINION OF THE COURT

CIPARICK, J.

The issue presented by this appeal is whether claimant Betty Kolnacki's failure to include the "total sum" of monetary damages in her claim, as required by Court of Claims Act § 11(b), is a jurisdictional defect. We conclude that it is and that her claim must be dismissed.

Kolnacki commenced this suit seeking to recover for personal injuries sustained on July 8, 2000 as the result of a slip and fall at Artpark — a park in Western New York with outdoor theater facilities. Her claim indicates that she fractured her left patella and suffered dental damage, as well as other bruises and lacerations. The original claim was served on or about July 27, 2000, but was neither filed nor verified. Moreover, the claim did not state a specific dollar amount of damages. The State answered raising several affirmative defenses including, as relevant here, that "[t]he contents of the . . . Claim served herein do not comply with the provisions of Section 11 of the Court of Claims Act."

Subsequently, Kolnacki served and filed a properly verified claim that, like the previous claim, did not contain a total amount of requested damages. Instead, the claim indicated that "[t]he full extent of claimant's injuries [is] not yet known," and that she had "incurred injuries, damages, medical and hospital expenses which are to date undetermined and will incur loss of earnings and impairment of health." The verified bill of particulars likewise did not state the total sum claimed. The State orally moved to dismiss the claim, at the commencement of trial, for failure to comply with the requirements of section 11(b) of the Court of Claims Act by omitting the amount of damages sought. The court denied the motion without prejudice to the State serving and filing a formal written motion in compliance with CPLR 2214.

After a trial on the issue of liability, the court found the State partially at fault. Thereafter, the State filed a written motion to dismiss the claim on the same basis as its previous oral motion — claimant's failure to state the amount of damages. The court granted the State's motion to dismiss, found that the failure to satisfy the requirements of section 11(b) was a jurisdictional defect and rejected Kolnacki's argument that substantial compliance with the statute was sufficient.

A majority of the Appellate Division reversed and reinstated the claim, finding that the extent of Kolnacki's damages was difficult to determine and that she alleged sufficient information for the State to ascertain its potential liability. Two Justices dissented and voted to affirm, asserting that the requirements of section 11(b) should be strictly construed and that the failure to state the total sum claimed was a jurisdictional defect. The Appellate Division granted the State's motion for leave to appeal to this Court and certified the following question: "Was the order of this Court, entered April 28, 2006, properly made"? We reverse and answer the certified question in the negative.

Under section 8 of the Court of Claims Act, the State has waived its sovereign immunity from liability "provided the claimant complies with the limitations of this article [§§ 8-12]." The Act contains several conditions that must be met in order to assert a claim against the State. Specifically, "[t]he claim shall state the time when and place where such claim arose, the nature of same, and the items of damage or injuries claimed to have been sustained and the total sum claimed" (Court of Claims Act § 11[b] [emphasis supplied]).

"`[B]ecause suits against the State are allowed only by the State's waiver of sovereign immunity and in derogation of the common law, statutory requirements conditioning suit must be strictly construed'" (Lichtenstein v. State of New York, 93 N.Y.2d 911, 913, 690 N.Y.S.2d 851, 712 N.E.2d 1218 [1999], quoting Dreger v. New York State Thruway Auth., 81 N.Y.2d 721, 724, 593 N.Y.S.2d 758, 609 N.E.2d 111 [1992]). Section 11 plainly requires that the claim state the total sum claimant is seeking. Notwithstanding Kolnacki's argument that "the total sum claimed" does not necessarily have to be a dollar figure, it is clear that her claim — entirely lacking any amount of monetary damages — failed to satisfy the requirements of the statute.

Recently, in Lepkowski v. State of New York, 1 N.Y.3d 201, 207, 770 N.Y.S.2d 696, 802 N.E.2d 1094 (2003), the claims of civil service employees seeking overtime pay were dismissed for failure to comply with the pleading requirements of section 11(b). The employees' claims did not adequately allege when or where they arose, the items of damage claimed or "the total sum claimed" (see Lepkowski, 1 N.Y.3d at 207-208, 770 N.Y.S.2d 696, 802 N.E.2d 1094). The Court observed that the State is not responsible for uncovering information that the claimant is required to allege under section 11(b) (see Lepkowski, 1 N.Y.3d at 208, 770 N.Y.S.2d 696, 802 N.E.2d 1094).

Kolnacki argues that Lepkowski is distinguishable because in the present case there is only one deficiency in the claim — failure to allege the total sum claimed — and because this is an action for personal injuries, which may be harder to quantify. These distinctions lack merit. Lepkowski made clear that all of the requirements in section 11(b) are "substantive conditions upon the State's waiver of sovereign immunity" (1 N.Y.3d at 207, 770 N.Y.S.2d 696, 802 N.E.2d 1094). The failure to satisfy any of the conditions is a jurisdictional defect. And while it may be true that damages in personal injury cases are harder to quantify at the outset, we fail to see why this prevents a claimant from providing any estimate whatsoever. A claim may always be amended at a later time, if necessary.

Moreover, this is not a new principle. We have consistently held that nothing less than strict compliance with the jurisdictional requirements of the Court of Claims Act is necessary (see Long v. State of New York, 7 N.Y.3d 269, 276, 819 N.Y.S.2d 679, 852 N.E.2d 1150 [2006] [dismissing claimant's action for failure to comply with verification requirements of Court of Claims Act § 8-b (4)]; Alston v State of New York, 97 N.Y.2d 159, 164, 737 N.Y.S.2d 45, 762 N.E.2d 923...

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  • Sacher v. State
    • United States
    • New York Supreme Court Appellate Division
    • December 14, 2022
    ...provided the claimant complies with the limitations of this article" (referencing id. art II, §§ 8-12; see Kolnacki v State of New York, 8 N.Y.3d 277, 280; Lepkowski v State of New York, 1 N.Y.3d 201, 206). Accordingly, "[t]he State's waiver of immunity from suits for money damages is not a......
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